Installation Issue

This is the worst company I have ever dealt with in trying to resolve an issue. Knowing what I know now, I would never have signed up with Exede and would strongly suggest anyone considering using this service to rethink before they commit to a 2 year contract.

My system was installed last year. At that time, I asked if I could install the mounting pole because I am a little OCD when it comes to the appearance of things around my house. I was told that the installer must do the pole installation for liability reasons so I allowed them to do it. When the installer finished, I noticed that about an inch of concrete was left above the surface of the lawn. Although I didn't like the appearance, the mounting pipe appeared to be plumb and the reception was good so I didn't complain.

Fast-forward to the present. The link below is a video that shows the problem.

The mounting pole visibly leans away from the house and the pole moves with just a small push from my hand. Needless to say, the wind makes continuous reception impossible. In order to get continuous reception, I have to secure the pole to the ground with a string and a stake. Not the most professional-looking installation.

Now if I had installed this pole, I would fix the pole installation and pay for the service call to have the technician realign the dish. However, since Exede forced me to use their installer...for liability reasons...it would seem that Exede is liable to pay for the service call to fix the installation...right?

Wrong! I have spoken to three different people in the support dept. who all read from the same script which is..."You are responsible for paying the $95 service call to fix the original pole installation". This makes no sense.

I wrote an email to customercare@viasat.com and received an auto-reply stating that my inquiry had been received and they'd get right on it and let me know within 24 hours how they could help with my issue." Exactly 23 hours and 48 minutes later, I received an email with the subject line stating the case was closed. The body of the email contained tips on how to restarting my modem and router should fix the problem. No phone call...nothing but the case was closed.

I wrote an email to exedelistens@viasat.com and received a response from "Exede Diana". Her response was "Please contact me so we can work together on a date and this issue resolved. You can reach me at 702-493-6418." I have called this number over 10 times in the past week and the message I get each time is "The person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time. please try your call later".

This company epitomizes poor customer service and you are asking for a headache if you choose them.

Gary sure does look like they did lousey job on your pole installation. When they put my pole in they used a lot of cement and the cement is level with the ground. Think they get outside installers. I was going to start from Wildblue. That was over 6 years ago. Then switched to Exede over 2 years ago. Still using same pole. Think they use to have better installers back then.

concrete is very smart small part of installing a pole it's all about going three feet into the ground it's obvious that there installer was a wussy and only went probably to a foot and a half or two

it's all about getting it three feet in the ground or at least one third of the total length so if its a 9 foot pole ,three of its gotta be in the ground.

and here's some installers love... whenever they to a pole mount install, they have to take a photograph of the hole depth with a tape measure. make them provide that picture if that technician did not take that picture then he failed QC then he has to be charged back and somebody has to fix for free.

In orddr to get paid and pass QC he must photograph the hole depth.....

Also, be sure they either use burial cable (which is usually orange) or put the cable in conduit as required by ViaSat. The pole must be schedule 40 steel - not galvanized like your fence posts. The pole must be 36" in the ground and an anti-spin device attached to the bottom of the pole. The bottom of the dish must be at least 5' above walking surface requiring the pole to be at least 8' long.

Gary - That is a terrible job of installing a pole. No way you should have to pay for a new pole install. Try contacting exedelistens@viasat.com with an attention to Diana. The phone number you have listed is incorrect. Someone reversed a couple of digits. I am reluctant to post her number on the public forum.

Received a call from Exede Diana on Saturday, 8/15, about my pole issue. She setup a service call to correct the original installation for today, 8/17. The installer came today and after removing the dish, he lifted the pole and concrete out of the ground without much effort. The hole was only 8-9 inches deep. He dug the hole to just over 24" deep and about 12 "wide. He reinstalled the original pole, including the old concrete that was attached to the pole, into the larger hole and added a 60 lb. bag of Quikrete. The pole is stable now and reception is strong and continuous.

Glad you got that straightened out Gary and are up and running. Actually though, the ViaSat requirement is a hole 3-feet deep and 160 lbs of concrete. Depending on your soil type and the depth of your frost line, you may be just fine.

When mine was installed he dug a hole little over a foot deep or so and then pounded the pole down in the ground an additional 2-3 feet then filled the hole in with a bag of concrete then covered it back up with dirt so the cement was bellow grade. Same thing with my HushesNet pole mount it didn't have but maybe half a bag of cement on it and it never moved.

I'm not sure I'd want this install, either. It doesn't have enough concrete, if he pounded it that much further into the ground it doesn't sound like it has anything for anti rotation and how he got it exactly straight up and down doing this......

It sounds like installers have a hard time with the pole install requirements. It's not that hard to do to do it right, I did my own.